The application of absolutely calibrated piezoelectric (PZT) sensors is increasingly used to help interpret the information carried by radiated elastic waves of laboratory/in situs acoustic emissions (AEs) in nondestructive evaluation. In this paper, we present the methodology based on the finite element method (FEM) to characterize PZT sensors. The FEM-based modelling tool is used to numerically compute the true Green’s function between a ball impact source and an array of PZT sensors to map active source to theoretical ground motion. Physical-based boundary conditions are adopted to better constrain the problem of body wave propagation, reflection and transmission in/on the elastic medium. The modelling methodology is first validated against the reference approach (generalized ray theory) and is then extended down to 1 kHz where body wave reflection and transmission along different types of boundaries are explored. We find the Green’s functions calculated using physical-based boundaries have distinct differences between commonly employed idealized boundary conditions, especially around the anti-resonant and resonant frequencies. Unlike traditional methods that use singular ball drops, we find that each ball drop is only partially reliable over specific frequency bands. We demonstrate, by adding spectral constraints, that the individual instrumental responses are accurately cropped and linked together over 1 kHz to 1 MHz after which they overlap with little amplitude shift. This study finds that ball impacts with a broad range of diameters as well as the corresponding valid frequency bandwidth, are necessary to characterize broadband PZT sensors from 1 kHz to 1 MHz.

There is significant interest in constraining mantle conductivity beneath oceans. One data source to probe oceanic mantle conductivity is magnetic fields measured at island observatories. From these data local responses are estimated and then inverted in terms of conductivity. However, island responses may be strongly distorted by the ocean induction effect (OIE) originating from conductivity contrasts between ocean and land. Insufficiently accurate accounting for OIE may lead to wrong interpretation of the responses. OIE is generally modeled by global simulations using relatively coarse grids to represent bathymetry. We explore whether very local bathymetry influences island responses. To address this question we developed a methodology for efficient modeling of effects of bathymetry of any resolution. On an example of two island observatories we demonstrate that small-scale bathymetry dramatically influences the responses. Using new methodology we obtain new conductivity models beneath considered islands and observe remarkable agreement between modeled and experimental responses.

Most of the existing three-dimensional (3-D) electromagnetic (EM) modeling solvers based on the integral equation (IE) method exploit fast Fourier transform (FFT) to accelerate the matrix-vector multiplications. This in turn requires a laterally-uniform discretization of the modeling domain. However, there is often a need for multi-scale modeling and inversion, for instance, to properly account for the effects of non-uniform distant structures, and at the same time, to accurately model the effects from local anomalies. In such scenarios, the usage of laterally-uniform grids leads to excessive computational loads, both in terms of memory and time. To alleviate this problem, we developed an efficient 3-D EM modeling tool based on a multi-nested IE approach. Within this approach the IE modeling is first performed at a large domain and on a (laterally-uniform) coarse grid, and then the results are refined in the region of interest by performing modeling at a smaller domain and on a (laterally-uniform) denser grid. At the latter stage, the modeling results obtained at the previous stage are exploited. The lateral uniformity of the grids at each stage allows us to keep using the FFT, and thus attain the remarkable performance of the developed tool. An important novelty of the paper is a development of a “rim domain” concept which further improves the efficiency of the multi-nested IE approach.

In this study we develop a tool to simultaneously invert multi-source magnetic transfer functions (TFs), including magnetotelluric (MT) tippers (with period ranging from a few minutes to 3 hours), solar quiet (Sq) global-to-local (G2L) transfer functions (TFs; with period ranging from 6 hours to 24 hours) of ionospheric origin, and magnetospheric global Q-responses (with period ranging from a few days to a few months). We further jointly invert the aforementioned multi-source TFs to constrain the local conductivity structures beneath three islands located in South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and North Pacific. The recovered conductivity profiles suggest upper mantle plumes beneath Tristan da Cunha and Oahu islands. Besides, our results indicate resistive lithosphere of different thicknesses beneath these three islands, showing a progressive thickening of oceanic lithosphere with age.